Ubermensch

I'm looking for light track use pads. I posted a topic over on the DE section and got some recommendations for the Pagid Sport pads, but nobody mentioned the Porsche sport pads. Does anyone have any experience with these two? The Porsche pads are quite a bit less expensive.

Thanks,

Shawn

mavthenav

I got pagids on my 996 when they are new first day at the track I thought I was going to go through the windscreen they stopped the car so quickly. I haven't tried any others.

Van

It's the price of going fast, Shawn...

garrett376

Light track use? You mean you'll lightly use your brakes on track?

Just pony up and spend $600 for some Pagid Yellows for the front and rear if you're running street tires (or Pagid blacks on the rear if you have R-compounds) and swap pads prior to your track event. Why bother with running sub-standard pads that may fade throughout a session and compromise your ability to stop? It takes about 20 minutes to swap pads - easy enough to guarantee your brakes will work as they should, and then you won't wear through your street pads, saving money on those in the long run. Street pads stink on the track, and track pads are noisy on the street - pads that are in between are no good for either situation compared to the duty-specific pads.

Ok, that's not what you asked about... but it might help.

himself

Porsche Sport pads will be fine for occassional track use in the lower run groups. They are not really suited for more than that, and will wear quickly. The good thing is they will have the proper holes for your wear sensors.

Pagid sport pads are not perfect for the track either, but are better than the Porsche pads.

One option would be to buy a set of track pads and put them on the car at the track. It is very easy to do.

It you are lazy (like most of us), just buy track pads and run them all the time.

-td

Tbred911

I have run pagid sport.... pagid yellow and porsche sport pads....

if your going to run R Compound and looking for extreme braking definitely go pagid yellow (and I use to run these on the street as well)...

I'm going the porsche sport pad route again because they are much cheaper... they are great on the track... (not as good as pagid yellow) and better than the pagid "blue" I had (I think these were sport).... the porsche sport pads have great bite and do not fade.... there is no way those pads fade.... (make sure you get fresh brake fluid every year) pagid yellow on the other hand have tremendous bite and you need to change your driving style to compensate for the time you are braking... pagid yellow may INCREASE your lap times because they really stop the car fast... !! that's what i mean about changing your driving style... so you need to spend less time on braking with the yellow pads... short bursts of late braking work very well with pagid yellow...

for light track use there is no need to go beyond porsche sport pads... they are easy on your rotors (pagid yellow will wear a set of rotors as the pad comes to an end... the relationship there is 1:1)... porsche sport pads you can get away with using 3 sets of pads before you replace the rotors.... bottom line is your rotors will last much longer with the porsche sport vs. pagid yellows... and you can do DE and track days all you like... just make sure to change your brake fluid once a season... can't emphasize that enough...

garrett376

great info Pete... thanks.

Ubermensch

Pete, thanks for the very informative post. I just did a fresh flush of the fluid last weekend. I think I'll give the Porsche sport pads a try. I've been using completely stock pads (with street tires) up until now. I've got a three day even coming up and would rather keep the street pads for the street and run the sport pads at the track. Thanks for the help, folks.

Shawn

PS-I just noticed himself prefers the Pagid sports while Pete prefers the Porsche. Does anyone want to break the tie?

Tbred911

I know the yellows will definitely last longer... I had 16 track days until the yellows wore out and so did all the rotors...

with the porsche sport pads.... the pads wore out in 8-9 track days but the rotors were still good (they are kinder to the rotors).... so if you have to replace the porsche sport pads 3 times.. its the same cost as the pagid yellows... bu you will have about 24-27 track days vs. 16 days with the yellows.... just my observations from the tracks I drive up here locally... some tracks are REALLY hard on brakes... the shorter ones with lots of low frequency turns... but porsche sport pads are good... the experience racers trackers will want more bite... but I found my lap times got quicker when I switched to porsche sport pads cause the braking wasn't as aggressive... so with yellows I was *over* braking... now if your a pro driver.. you can definitely use this to your advantage... but you'll be playing on the edge here... lots of late short bursts of braking and trail braking... and if you ever need the hands of God.. pagid yellow is it... you won't believe how fast they will bring your car back down to a stop.... the 996 stock braking system is excellent... just change out the street pads for something better and look no further.

Mfletch

I need to buy pads for mine right now. Do the Porsche sport pads squeal on the street? If not, any advice on where to buy (Sunset?) and how much? Thanks.

redridge

Yes, they squeal (especially if you have gt3 (RS) brake ducts)... they get better in about 1k miles or so... $254, its a great price for occasional DE.

http://www.suncoastparts.com/product...6BrakesCarrera

himself

I will give you my perspective, which is a bit different.

Pagid Yellow pads are easy on rotors and do not wear them nearly as fast as Porsche Sport pads. However, they must have a proper transfer layer on the rotor to work optimally. If bedded properly, they actually reduce rotor wear. However, they need to be replaced after only about 1/3 of the pad remains as they start to chunk, may start to taper noticeably, and also significantly increase heat transfer to the caliper. IMO, Pagid Yellows are not soft pads. They are actually fairly hard and they will not stop your car like PFC-01s [!! talk about throwing out a boat anchor!!]

IMO, Pagids Yellows have a decent initial bite, but they tend not to be as uniform through the braking zone as other pads. That is, the pads become much more grippy in the middle of a braking zone. IMO, this is even more pronounced with the Porsche Sport pads. I like constant deceleration based on the same pedal pressure as this allows better trailing and release.

With respect to rotor wear, you will likely heat crack your rotors out long before they wear out. The only set of rotors I ever wore out were the ones that came on the car. Every other set of rotors (close to 10 sets) were heat cracked.

Lastly, you should pic a pad that fits your setup. The type of tire you use, weight of your car, and braking system (including cooling and fluid) will dictate your pad choice. If you choose a soft pad, it may never get up to temperature when running a street tire on a light car. Similarly, you don't want to use a street pad when running sticky tires, as you will overheat them, then cook them, then boil your fluid.

-td

Mfletch

Ferdinand, thanks for the info. I can't handle squealing brakes. I guess I'll stick with the original pads.

Tbred911

interesting... I have never heat cracked my rotors ever... using pagid yellow, stock or porsche sport pads... this is all on a 99 C2 with stock OEM rotors.

I have installed GT3 brake ducts... could this make a difference?

agreed about street pad with sticky R compound tires... that is a no-no... this is where pagid yellow come in handy... they are very streetable and work well with R compound tires...

himself

Brake ducts will help cooling, but will not help much with cracking, if any. All rotors crack from the heat. Solid, slotted, dimpled, cross drilled - all of them.

If you haven't cracked rotors, you are not using your brakes enough. I bet the words "PORSCHE" on your calipers is still shiny white as well. As you can see on my 996C2, I had ducts, scoops, dimpled rotors, SRF, and even created pass throughs through the front bumper to channel air to the brakes. And I still cracked rotors.




Porsche even put out a guide for cracked OEM rotors.



Here is what OEM and aftermarket rotors look like with cracks. NOTE: the OEM rotors only had 10 sessions (1 weekend + 2 sessions) PFC had 26 sessions.










Currently, I am running DeMan rotors, and they have lasted a whole year - and they are just now on their last legs. Maybe 1 more weekend until they need replacing. But they still have cracks...

-td